


to blunder and flounder

by falsegljtter



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, Daycare Owner Lance, Gym Leader Keith, Misunderstandings, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-22 18:18:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11385723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falsegljtter/pseuds/falsegljtter
Summary: After his promising stint as a Pokemon Coordinator, Lance decides he needs a change and that the best place to find this change is in Lavaridge City. That's how Keith, Gym Leader and massive Lance fan, finds himself right next door to Lance's daycare.A dream come true right? It would be if Keith would stop saying the wrong things all that time.





	1. New Kid on the Block!

**Author's Note:**

> i have so many other things i want to write for but i was struck with the overwhelming need to write a pokemon au

Keith was not a fanboy (no matter what his traitorous ‘friends’ might say). He just admired how Lance could dominate the stage and exude charm. The Pokémon Coordinator is a well decorated contest winner, along with his signature team, and Keith respects the work that Lance puts in to getting those medals. It didn’t help convince people that he wasn’t a fanboy when he could rattle off most every title Lance has won and knew random tidbits about him but it wasn’t his fault he was on every channel from Kalos to Sinnoh! The boy had been winning big in the contest circuits and finally won master rank in Hoenn. ‘Had’ being the operative word Keith realizes as Pidge breaks the news to him on his way to the gym.

“Did you hear? Lance just announced he’s going to stop competing in contests.” Pidge bombards him as soon as he steps through the glass doors and he slams on his breaks so hard that Houndoom almost runs into his legs. Next to Pidge is her Jolteon, a temperamental jerk who seems to only like Pidge (or maybe just hate Keith now that he thinks about it) 

“He did? Why? He just won master rank in Hoenn,” Keith rebuts, not sure what caused Lance to suddenly quit. Pidge gives no response, only typing something into her Pokegear and clicking play.

_“Shockingly, Pokémon Coordinator Lance has decided to hang up his sash and leave the contest world just days after his Hoenn Master Rank win. We managed to get an interview with Lance and he says he’s decided to pursue other interests. What those interests may be? We’ll tell you when we find out here on Hoenn Radio…”_

Pidge closes the broadcast and turns to look at Keith. 

“Is he trying to beat the Elite Four in every region? I’m pretty sure he already defeated Alola’s and Hoenn’s. Only people wanting to be Elite Four or champions go for every region.” Keith remembers the time he went for the journey. The rush was unbelievable but not something he’d like to do again. It had taken him around six years, a lot of time that couldn’t be made back. At least the journey had thrust him outside of Sinnoh and helped him find Lavaridge City, a gorgeous place he loves dearly.

“Nah, Lance left the battle scene to join contests. Why would he go back?” Pidge says and Keith agrees but if not battling, what else could Lance be doing? The sound of the door opening snaps Keith back to attention and he turns to catch sight of his first opponent that day. 

“Woah this place brings back memories!” the newcomer says appreciatively before coming into the pair’s line of vision. Standing in the gym is none other than Lance himself, with an awestruck Munchlax at his side. As if that wasn’t enough to send Keith into cardiac arrest, Lance’s outfit sure was. He was wearing a blue apron with the traditional symbol of a Pokémon daycare on it in yellow. A matching blue bandana secured his hair away from his face and brought out the blue in his eyes. Lance turns to Keith and grins.

“I’m Lance! I’m the one who runs the daycare next door.” Lance holds out his hand to take but Keith is still too dazed to do anything but stare at it. Luckily Pidge is there and she shakes Lance’s hand instead. Her Jolteon looks at Lance wearily but deems him good enough and goes back to laying at her feet.

“I’m Pidge and this is Keith. I thought the daycare belonged to that other guy named Hunk?” Pidge questions, thinking back to the large sweet guy she had seen at the build site for the past few months. Hunk truly was a godsend, giving the duo delicious food every time he saw them and becoming a good friend of them both.

“Hunk?” Lance lets out a small laugh at the suggestion and Keith wishes Infernape would just set him on fire. She protests the thought from inside her Pokeball, but anything would be better than being an unresponsive idiot in front of his idol. “Oh no, he doesn’t even work at the daycare. He’s a chef who works in Lilycove City and a friend of mine who offered to overlook construction while I was on the contest circuit. But now I’m done so I can finally open it up, right Lilo?” Lance looks at his Munchlax adoringly, like Keith didn’t already have enough reasons to be completely awed.

“Is that why you left the contests?” Pidge asks, partially out of curiosity and partially because there was no way Keith was going to talk. Bless the poor kid’s soul, he could stand toe to toe with the toughest trainers across the world but the sight of Lance left him tongue tied.

“Yeah. I was getting tired of the contests and wanted to try settling down in one place for a while,” Lance replies before his watch beeps. “Oh! My mother is calling, I should go. Goodbye Pidge and Keith. It was nice to meet you two.”

Last chance, Keith’s conscience seems to whisper as he sees Lance go to turn off the beeping on his watch. Last chance. Say something witty, or charming and capture Lance’s affection. Make this a stellar first impression and blow him away.

“Get out of my gym!”

Or that. 

“Excuse me?” Lance looks rightfully confused, given that the silent boy’s first words to him are so harsh. The Munchlax next to him glares at Keith, sensing the hostility. Now, Keith could use this moment to say ‘just kidding!’ or to explain how Lance was his idol and he was a little overwhelmed by his presence so he wasn’t thinking straight or even just apologize profusely. Instead of any of these reasonable courses of action, Keith makes it worse.

“You heard me.” Today was really not Keith’s day.

“Sorry for trying to be nice. Goodbye Pidge,” Lance emphasizes before stalking out the door, his Munchlax on his heels. As soon as he leaves Keith lets out a loud groan. Pidge tries her hardest to keep in her laughter but it proves to be to much as she’s soon laughing her ass off on Keith’s gym floor.

“Keith that was honestly the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” Pidge manages to say through her tears and even Jolteon seems amused. 

“Whatever! Do you think I messed it up?” Keith asks, worry creeping into his voice. Just his luck that his idol is his new next-door neighbor and he messes up that badly.

“Yes. But Lance seems like a nice guy and hopefully this incident will blow over,” Pidge offers in the closest thing she has to comfort. For those few minutes Keith thinks maybe this will blow over and it will become the day he hilariously embarrasses himself in front of his new friend Lance instead of the day he makes a lifelong enemy of his idol. 

\--

Optimism, Keith decides in three days when things have most definitely not blown over, is a foolish construct meant to bring peoples’ hopes up before crushing them worse than a Snorlax. He may sound dramatic, but it was a perfectly normal train of thought given the news that Hunk has just given him. Yes, Chef Hunk from Lilycove, who also became friends with Keith and Pidge during his time overseeing the building of the daycare.

“What happened with Lance?” is the first thing out of Hunk’s mouth as he comes into Keith’s gym and looks accusingly at the gym master. 

“What makes you think something happened?” Keith avoids brining up what happened as long as he can, which with Hunk isn’t that long. In lieu of a response, Hunk drags Keith outside to see the new writing on Lance’s chalkboard sign in front of the daycare. The normal stuff is still on it (two Pokémon per trainer, removal fees, egg policies, etc.) but at the bottom in large letters is a new message.

_[The Keith Challenge! Any trainer that brings in proof they have DESTROYED Lavaridge Gym Leader Keith in a battle gets a discounted removal fee!]_

“Okay something happened. I may have been flustered when I saw him for the first time and told him, very rudely, to get out of my gym,” Keith admits, ready for Hunk to start laughing at him but the chef just winces.

“Yikes that is rough. Wait did you say flustered? Like you like him?” Hunk waggles his eyebrows, the action looking at ridiculous as Keith feels right now. 

“No! He’s just been so cool and such an amazing Pokémon Coordinator that I was awestruck when I saw him up close for the first time. I was on the road so much but it seemed no matter what that I could always find a radio station blabbing about Lance. Now he’s here and it’s just.” Keith trails off, not knowing what words could fit how he’s feeling.

“Overwhelming?” Hunk smiles sympathetically and Keith nods, glad someone gets it. “He’s always had that affect, even before he became such a decorated Pokémon Coordinator. When I met him during his battling days, he could captivate his opponents as easily as he did the crowd. But he’s just a person like you and me. Just think of him as Lance the Daycare Boy and it should get easier to talk to him. I would start with apologizing first though.”

“Not too sure he wants to see me right now,” Keith says as he stares at ‘DESTROYED’ on the board.

“He’s a drama queen.” Hunk waves off his concerns and drags Keith into the daycare center. The inside is modestly decorated, with a few chairs lining one wall, a PC Machine, and a large curved desk-like barrier with two doors behind it. From what Keith knows about daycare structures he assumes one leads to the outside area the Pokémon are held in and the other door leads up to the second floor where the owner would stay. Keith wonders if Lance knows they’re there but Hunk seems to be unconcerned.

“Every time the door opens, a notification is sent to Lance’s watch. That way it doesn’t disturb any Pokémon. He should be coming soon.” Hunk barely finishes speaking by the time the back-door swings open, revealing Lance and a Sylveon. A smile blooms over Lance’s face at the sight of Hunk but it stops once he sees Keith.

“Hunk! Keith. What can I do for you two?” Lance leans on the counter, his Sylveon hopping off his shoulder to nuzzle his hands. He mindlessly begins to pet her as he stares at the two in front of him.

“I think Keith should see a tour of your establishment! Afterwards he’ll tell you something.” Hunk doesn’t seem to be affected by the wicked look Lance shoots their way and eventually the boy sighs. 

“Alright. Right this way.” Lance pushes at a block of the desk and Keith is surprised when it swings outwards easily, making a path for them to walk through. They follow him through the back door and Keith is amazed by all the Pokémon roaming around. A Zigzagoon and Bidoof chase each other through the tall grass to their left while a Starraptor and Skarmory breeze by in the air.

“This is the grasslands section, where most normal types enjoy congregating. The air is free for any flying types to stretch their wings in, but I usually have Rory up there as well to keep an eye on them,” Lance says while pointing to the Skarmory flapping by. Deeper into the grasslands is a large lake holding a Lapas and a few Magikarp swimming freely. One corner of it seems to be filled with giant chunks of ice and Keith could have sworn he saw some snow on the shore near that side Lance leads them in another direction where the temperature swells, making Keith sweat a little despite how content his Pokeballs seem in the weather. The sun shines the brightest in this part, and large hot rocks are placed in the space.

“We just passed by the lake for any water or ice type residents, and this is the hot zone for our fire types. Further this way is the gym for fighting types, do not go in there without warning because you will get a kick to the face, and the insulated room for when electric types get too charged up. Back on the other side is the nursery where I keep any eggs but I don’t ever let visitors over there lest they mess with the controls somehow.” Lance seems genuinely passionate about the daycare and Keith is impressed. A place with this level of advancements and attention to detail must have taken forever to perfect.

“I love it Lance! It looks so much nicer filled with Pokémon,” Hunk compliments genuinely as he stares around the place he watched come together for so long. No wonder Lance was so dedicated to this project.

“It’s lovely,” Keith says quietly but Lance still hears and looks over with a small grin. 

“Thank you.” Lance swells with pride. The Sylveon on his shoulder even has his own satisfied look on his face.

“Now Keith isn’t there something you’d like to tell Lance?” Hunk prods and Keith suddenly remembers the reason for his visit. Clearing his throat, Keith starts the most awkward apology of his life. 

“I, uh, I’m sorry about what happened at the gym. I was just panicked and said that out of nowhere. It was totally uncalled for and I won’t say it again.” Keith scuffs his shoe on the ground and can feel Lance sizing him up.

“Hm. Well I guess that’s good enough. I’m leaving the sign up though. It should inspire you to work hard,” Lance teases only Keith doesn’t interpret it that way.

“I work plenty hard. I didn’t need some dumb sign to get me to where I am today and I sure won’t need a sign to work hard.” Keith only realizes after the words are out of his mouth that he sounds like a total jerk. But before he can rectify the situation (again) Lance’s eyes have already narrowed.

“Oh, I see. Well then why don’t you head back to your gym, Keith? You can go do some more hard work there.” Lance turns away from Keith and Hunk quickly ushers the gym leader out of the daycare.

“We were doing so well Keith. What happened?” Hunk shakes his head in disappointment and Keith sighs as well.

“I don’t know! His comment just got me angry.”

“He was just teasing you like friends do! Besides, don’t you get goaded on by trainers all the time?” Hunk reasons. Keith understands his point but can’t explain why he’s wrong.

“It’s different with Lance! With those trainers, nothing ever makes me react like that.” Keith jerks a hand through his hair, unsatisfied with how today went.

“I see.” Hunk’s eyes gleam mischievously but he doesn’t elaborate on the whole way back to the gym. While Keith tries to decipher what Hunk means, the chef merely thinks of whole long it will take for him to realize his feelings.


	2. Let's Go to the Mall!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith strike up a deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is twice as long as the last chapter bc what is self control?!?! i kept trying to stop it places but then i was like how abt we write another thousand words and now we're here
> 
> can someone please appreciate my weird space uncle Coran

For the next month, Keith deals with his new normal. Fighting with young trainers, bonding with his Pokémon, and making things even worse with Lance. No matter what strategy he employs, he ends up with Lance glaring at him before turning away. Keith was hoping after the incident at the Daycare that he would never have to show his face to Lance again but that was hard when his gym is right next door to Lance and he wants new eggs. But somehow outside of those awkward icy daycare encounters, Keith runs into him all over town.

Now Lavaridge City is in no way a booming metropolis but there are enough people and enough hours in the day that Keith shouldn’t run into Lance as often as he does. The two always happen to be going to the Pokémon Center at the same time or any other random activity. Keith decides it’s the universe trying to make him mess up yet again.

And mess up he does. When going to collect his mail with Lance he notices Lance only has a few letters and jokes that everyone has already forgotten about Pokémon Coordinator Lance. Not the best thing to say to someone who fears being abandoned, Keith figures out after Lance turns away from him. At the Pokémon Center, a few days later, Keith offhandedly comments on how Lance’s Pokémon shouldn’t need healing since he doesn’t do anything with them and gets an angry (and heavy) Munchlax stomping on his foot before Lance storms off. 

Today, Keith is sure he won’t run into Lance. Pidge had mentioned that Lance was booked to the limit at the daycare and while he feels sorry for all the work Lance has to deal with by himself, it also means he won’t have to worry about offending the blue-eyed beauty. At least that was the plan before he is suddenly grabbed by the arm and gets pulled into a building. Keith is ready to fight until he sees a ragged looking Lance holding onto his arm like a lifeline.

“Look, you aren’t too good at being nice to me but I don’t really care. You’re the second most qualified person in this town to deal with all these Pokémon and I need help. Some of these trainers promised they would be here by today but no one has showed up so I’ve got my hands full. Please just look after some of them for me and I’ll forgive every stupid thing you’ve said to me so far,” Lance pleads. His apron is slightly scorched, his bandana is askew, and mud streaks his forehead. Even if he hadn’t made such a good deal, Keith would still help him out because he may be bad with talking to people but he wasn’t a heartless monster. 

“Sure,” Keith replies easily and Lance’s face fills with so much relief that Keith doesn’t care about what he ends up looking like at the end of the day. The two work in an easy tandem, running around and playing with the Pokémon. By the end, Keith has respect for Lance because daycare running is hard. Most of the pesky trainers who come by don’t seem to know about the amount of effort that goes into the work and instead hide their giggles at seeing the great gym leader Keith drenched in lake water. Once Lance decides to close the doors and usher all the Pokémon into their sleeping quarters, Keith is already lying down on the grass. 

“Mind if I join you?” Lance asks but settles down on the grass without waiting for a response. The two are silent, with Keith looking at the sky and Lance busy petting his prized Alolan Persian named Blue. 

“Are people usually that ungrateful?” Keith blurts out, thinking to all the trainers that didn’t seem to care that Lance had poured his heart and soul into caring for their Pokémon. They had just turned up their noses when they didn’t get strong enough.

“From my experience, there’s always a mix. Some people are absolute sweethearts, thanking me and always loving their Pokémon. Others don’t get that I’m not meant to train their Pokémon for them. I’m supposed to make Pokémon happy and comfortable and if they happen to get stronger during that time then it’s a bonus.” Lance shrugs like it wasn’t a big deal but Keith couldn’t imagine that. Even if people lost to him, they still treat him with some respect and work to get better for when they come back. 

“Well I appreciate the work you do,” Keith says and Lance tears his attention away from Blue to look at Keith.

“Where was all this tact when you told me to ‘get out of your gym’? Ah, don’t speak, you’ll ruin the moment.” Lance shushes when he sees Keith open his mouth before laughing a bit. “You aren’t the best with talking to people, are you?”

“Not really. In battles, I never had to talk much and I was always training so there wasn’t time to brush up on my social etiquette.” Keith sighs and Lance has a silent conversation with Blue before turning back to Keith.

“Welcome my apprentice, I have decided to take you under my wing. Maybe on the road you didn’t have to know how to express yourself properly but now you’re a gym leader. You need to be able to communicate with others. Lucky for you, I am a dazzling socialite and can share all my tips.” Lance stands up and offers out a hand to Keith with a smile. “Will you accept my amazing once in a lifetime offer?”

Keith grabs the outstretched hand and nods. 

“Great! Rule one: don’t bother trying to apologize to me anymore when you say something irksome. It leads to bigger problems and I’ll just let you know. Got it?” Lance’s eyes twinkle and the setting sun behind him shines a soft glow on him. Even looking messy and dirty he still manages to pull it off. Something thumps incessantly and it takes a few minutes for Keith to realize it’s his heart. Pushing aside the odd feeling, he tries his best at a smile for Lance.

“Got it.” Lance stares for a few more seconds before another megawatt smile takes over his face.

“Good! Now, protégé, go back to your gym to rest. We can continue later.” Lance all but pushes Keith out of his front door with nothing more than a wink. Dazed, Keith makes his way back to his gym only to find Pidge upstairs in his kitchen.

“By Ho-Oh! Pidge you scared me.” Keith startles as he walks through the dark doorway. “At least turn on a light, would you?”

“Where have you been young man?” Pidge snickers and Keith gently whacks her on the head.

“Helping Lance,” Keith replies curtly as he grabs a water from his fridge. “What are you doing here?”

“Too tired to head back to Mossdeep City. Decided I’d stay here.”

“Well make yourself at home.” Keith rolls his eyes but there’s no bite to the words. Pidge knows she’s welcome anytime and takes full advantage of the open invitation. 

“Why were you helping Lance? He hates your guts,” Pidge says. Keith wants to be offended but he can’t since that’s what he thought until today too.

“He did hate my guts. Now he said he’s going to help me learn to talk to people.” Pidge drops the empty bowl she was holding and it clatters to the ground.

“Seriously? How did you get on his good side so quickly?” Pidge is impressed and even her Jolteon looks like he’s baffled.

“I helped him out at the daycare.” Keith almost sits on his couch before remembering his current appearance. “On that note, I’m going to go take a shower. Don’t stay up too late.”

“I won’t, Mom.” Pidge snorts and Keith just continues to the bathroom. The two were an unlikely friendship and met in a seminar about unusual Pokémon sightings. When it turned out to be bogus, they had skipped the second half and explored the city in Kanto together. They had lost contact for a few weeks before Keith found out that Pidge was a tech genius and would be working at Mossdeep City. Pidge was happy to find the snarky guy she met in Kanto again only three cities away. Since then it had been normal for Pidge to take her current project and go to Lavaridge to work instead of staying in Mossdeep. She would say for the atmosphere but Keith wasn’t that big of a fool and he knew Pidge didn’t have anyone in Mossdeep City that would keep her company.

A small yip distracts his thoughts and he turns to see Flareon looking up expectantly from where she sat on Keith’s bed.

“Alright I’m going,” Keith assures and heads to the shower quickly before settling down next to the Flareon. She immediately nestles up against his side and Keith feels his eyelids getting heavier. It doesn’t take long before Keith is asleep, with the soft purring of Flareon being the only sound in the room.

“Aw that’s so cute!” is the first thing Keith hears the next morning, along with the feeling that something is crushing his lungs. Unless Flareon managed to double her weight in the night, there was someone unknown on his stomach. He lets out a pained wheeze and the voice gasps. “Blue, get off him! Please don’t kill the gym leader. Keith are you okay?”

Keith grumbles, opening his eyes to see Lance along with his Pokémon. The Munchlax from all those weeks ago is there as well as a Glaceon and resting on top of Keith is an Alolan Persian. At Lance’s request, she hops off Keith and slinks back to Lance’s side. Worst of all is Keith’s Flareon resting comfortably in Lance’s arms. The little traitor.

“Good morning protégé! Sorry about Blue, she gets excited,” Lance apologizes before fixing Keith with a smile brighter than the sun. Speaking of, Keith is pretty sure that the sun hasn’t even risen yet. 

“What time is it?” Keith asks groggily. Most people didn’t bother trying to visit the gym before ten in the morning, and for good reason, since he rarely was up before seven and hardly functional at nine. Which was, in Keith’s humble opinion, a perfectly early time but not for Lance.

“Come on Grumpy Pants its only four! Now let’s go.” Lance pokes Keith in the side, drawing another sound of protest from him.

“Go where?” Keith narrows his eyes but Lance is undeterred.

“Lilycove City. I have some things I need to do, Rory wants to stretch her wings, and it’s a booming city with plenty of people to practice social skills on. Now, can any of your Pokémon fly?” Lance huffs impatiently, checking his watch and tapping his foot. Since Lance doesn’t seem like he’ll leave Keith alone anytime soon, he sighs and rolls out of the bed.

“Of course,” Keith grumbles because he is still upset about being woken up so early. “What will you do about the daycare?”

“Your roommate Pidge was kind enough to offer looking after them for the morning. Now hurry, I have to be through by nine so we only have five hours.” Keith would protest Lance calling Pidge his roommate but he’s being lead by the hand before he can say another word. In the dark morning, Keith can see Lance calling back the Glaceon, Munchlax, and Alolan Persian before bringing out a new Pokeball.

“Rory, I choose you!” Lance calls and popping out of the ball is the Skarmory that Keith sometimes sees around the daycare. But what Keith is more focused on is Lance’s words.

“’I choose you’? What are you, a ten-year-old?” Keith snorts while both the Skarmory and Lance look incredibly offended.

“Hey! Rory happens to love doing that with me. You should try it, it makes everything feel cooler,” Lance suggests. It worries Keith that he can’t tell if Lance is kidding. “As your teacher, I demand you do it!” Okay, so he wasn’t kidding. Feeling ridiculous, Keith takes out his desired Pokeball and sighs.

“Flygon, I choose you,” Keith says lamely while tossing the ball into the air. Flygon appears, looking strangely more badass than normal. He would like to think it has nothing to do with the stupid words Lance made him say, but that wouldn’t be true. Even if he’ll never tell Lance that.

“Didn’t you have more fun doing that?” Lance asks as he swiftly hops on the Skarmory’s back, evading the razor-sharp wings.

“I did not,” Keith denies while mounting Flygon as well. 

“Did too.” The two take off, soaring up high into the clouds.

“Did not!” Keith shouts at Lance, who was already a good distance in front of him. Lance says nothing, but Keith can see a grin appear on his face. It makes Keith feel warm even in the cool air and he can’t think of why.

\--

The landing was, in one word, rough. Flygon apparently had enough of carrying Keith and decides to do a roll in air, subsequently sending Keith tumbling towards the ground. The fall doesn’t wound anything but his pride when he notices Lance (whose Skarmory manages to land him perfectly fine) giggling a few feet away. Flygon doesn’t look the least bit sorry, and Keith spitefully thanks her before returning her to her Pokeball.

“Rough landing?” Lance asks with a smirk as he extends his hand out to Keith. He grabs it begrudgingly, and the two head off into the city. The first impression Keith has of the city is overwhelming and the second is who just pushed him? “Don’t mind that person. A ton of people can be a bit pushy in the cities.”

“A bit?” Keith says incuriously as another person elbows him. Somehow no one has run into Lance yet, even though he’s gotten a few second glances, probably from old fans. “Why hasn’t anyone run into you?” 

“A max repel.” Lance shakes his head when Keith nods approvingly. “I was joking! It’s all about mastering the art of city walking, here I’ll guide you.” Then a gentle pressure is on Keith’s left hand and it takes a few seconds to realize its Lance’s own hand.

“Huh?” Keith eloquently replies. 

“I can’t be getting everything done when I’m walking with a newborn fawn. Hurry, I need to do some errands,” Lance explains before the two are off again. Navigating is, admittedly, a lot easier for Keith now that all he has to do is follow Lance and soon enough they’re at the first destination. 

“Where is this?” Keith asks while looking at the building in front of them. Its modestly sized, only being a two story, and is a clean white color. A pink neon sign above the doorway spells out ‘The Lily’ in sprawling cursive. 

“It’s the restaurant where Hunk is a Chef. Come on,” Lance says as he pushes through the door. Inside is a modern looking room with sleek tables set out and booths lining the walls. No one is inside and Keith feels like he’s trespassing. Lance doesn’t have this same reservation, instead walking forward confidently. He twists in between the tables and slides over a counter, leaving Keith no choice but to follow. They enter a swinging door only to find Hunk mixing a giant bowl of ingredients together in the middle of a kitchen. 

“Lance! Oh, and Keith! It’s a surprise to see you too.” Hunk sets down his spoon to envelop the two in a massive hug. Once it’s over, he smiles brightly at the pair.

“What brings you to Lilycove City, Keith?” Hunk asks. He turns away to grab something but still looks over at Keith every few seconds, waiting for his reply.

“I’m here to work on socializing,” Keith murmurs. It wasn’t that he was necessarily ashamed of it, he knew this was an area of weakness, but it was still embarrassing to explain. Thankfully, Hunk takes it in stride.

“There’s plenty of places to work on that in the city.” He laughs and hands over a carefully wrapped box to Lance. “Here are the Poffins you wanted. Are you going to see Coran today? He burst in here yesterday ecstatic about some new healing powders he gathered.”

“I was planning on it. I’ve missed Uncle,” Lance replies, a wistful smile on his face.

“Coran? The Professor? I didn’t know he was your uncle,” Keith comments offhandedly and Hunk chuckles slightly from where he stands mixing the bowl once more.

“They aren’t actually related but Professor Coran and Lance have always been close. Now when Coran goes to his weekly setup in the nearby market, Lance always tries to visit him,” Hunk elaborates, focusing most of his energy on making sure everything is well mixed.

“Isn’t there a machine or something that can do that better?” Keith wonders aloud as he looks at the difficulty with which Hunk took to thoroughly mix it all. In a restaurant as modern as this, they should have higher quality materials than just a spoon. Hunk clenches the bowl tighter and Keith can’t help but feel he’s said something wrong. Yet again.

“Hunk prefers doing the work by hand, it calms him. Besides, no one can do it better than my best friend,” Lance swings an arm around Hunk with a look shot at Keith. He shakes his head slightly and Keith gets the cue.

“Oh, of course,” he amends and Hunk seems to perk up after their affirmations. Not too much later, they take their leave and head back out onto the street.

“Somehow you always manage to find the exact button to push,” Lance comments as he begins to weave them through the city once more.

“I don’t do it on purpose! I’m trying,” Keith defends. Lance squeezes his hand slightly in reassurance before moving forward once more.

“I know you are. It’s not an insult, just an observation. You’re doing better, I’m proud.” They stop in front of a building, this one looking much grander than the last. Keith is glad for the distraction since it gives him a second to fight the blush rising on his face. He has no idea why he’s acting this way, he’ll have to ask Pidge later, but it was perplexing.

“Is this where Professor Coran is?” Keith asks as they enter the skyscraper. Lines and lines of vendors greet him, all of them advertising their products. In the center of the room was an escalator and that’s what Lance made a beeline for.

“He’s on the fourth floor. They couldn’t put the best vendor on the first floor or else no one would get any sales,” Lance whispers the last part conspiratorially and Keith can tell that Lance must truly respect Coran. “This is the perfect atmosphere to try talking to new people though. As long as you aren’t a complete asshole, the vendors are pretty tolerant.”

“That idea seems to be putting a lot of pressure on me not being an asshole, and are we sure that can happen?” Keith says as they step off the escalator on their designated floor. 

“Did Keith Kogane, Gym Leader of Lavaridge City, just crack a joke?” Lance asks incredulously and lets out a roaring laugh that draws a few stares. The sound is funny and Keith can’t stop himself from joining in. the two could have continued all day, with each other’s laughter pushing them on, if it wasn’t for the arrival of another person.

“Lance, my boy! Come here, you two are acting wilder than a horde of Aerodactyls.” A ginger haired man beckons them forward and Lance practically sprints to the older man.

“Uncle!” Lance hugs Coran tightly and Keith is left awkwardly shuffling his feet to the side. Once Lance releases Coran from the hug he turns to Keith with a smile. “This is Professor extraordinaire Coran! Not to mention skilled apothecary, wickedly cool trainer, and the best at haggling in all of Hoenn.” 

“You flatter me too much.” Coran laughs off the praise but Keith doesn’t doubt its accuracy. “You are Keith, of the Lavaridge Gym, correct?”

“You know me?” Keith startles, unsure of why. 

“I have a friend in the Pokémon League, she was impressed by how you battled the Elite Four,” Coran explains and Keith can feel himself grow embarrassed. He never learned how to accept compliments properly so it ended like this most times.

“Allura? I miss her!” Lance exclaims, giving Keith an easy out on trying to respond. He gratefully takes it and fades from the conversation as they go on to talk about medicines, herbs, and berries. They wrap up in an hour, with Lance’s bag he brought weighed down by Hunk’s Poffins and the assorted supplies he bought from Coran. 

“Well, I’ll see you next week. Take it easy, my boy! It was nice to meet you.” Coran waves at the two as they walk away from the stall and Lance has a newfound spring in his step.

“How did you two first meet?” The escalator ride down is faster and soon they’re standing on the first floor again.

“I was doing a contest here and Coran happened to have free time to come watch. After the show, he saw me giving Blue some berries so he asked if I would help him with research on different aspects affecting how Pokémon accept and utilize berries. We became friends after that, I still help him on some projects.” Lance reaches into his pocket and pulls out a gimmicky wallet that some PokeMarts sold to aspiring trainers. The outside was covered in various Pokémon and Keith heard the unmistakable sound of Velcro as Lance ripped the wallet open. He fishes out some bills before handing them to Keith. 

“What is this for? And what is with that wallet?” Keith scrunches his nose up in confusion but Lance just laughs.

“First of all, my wallet is the greatest thing on this earth. Secondly, you need to go buy something from a vendor and haggle the price down to one hundred dollars. This will be our social interaction of the day.” Lance grabs Keith’s shoulders and shakes him for a few seconds before sending Keith off into the lion’s den. He watches from afar as Keith roams around the stalls looking for something useful. He finally finds a stall holding what look to be Float Stones. A closer glance shows that he’s correct and he smirks. Keith will show Lance.

“Hello there! Are you interested in a Float Stone?” the man behind the counter is all smiles as Keith observes the stand.

“Yes. How much?” Keith asks.

“Since I haven’t seen you around before I’ll give you a discount. How about two hundred fifty?” 

“I’ll pay one hundred,” Keith says instead and the man looks taken aback by the price.

“That’s far too low! Surely you understand?” he tries to reason but Keith isn’t having it. He’s been in this city all morning and while it’s been fun with Lance, he also sincerely wants to go back to his gym. 

“What I understand is that I’m only willing to pay one hundred.” Keith feels his eyes narrow but does nothing to stop it. Pidge always says that his glare made people feel like ‘he was holding a dagger to their neck’ and maybe it could help him here. Gentle persuasion of sorts. 

“You drive a hard bargain.” The man shakes his head. “Are you getting this for someone?”

“Yes.” Keith doesn’t know why the man needs to know that, but it must be the answer he’s looking for because his face softens.

“Must be someone you love dearly to want it so much. I’ll take your deal, kid.” The man passes over a gleaming Float Stone and Keith, confused yet happy, takes it gratefully. He gives a quick nod of gratitude before heading back over to Lance. 

“It worked!” Lance pumps a fist in the air and smiles widely at Keith. Unsure of how to respond, Keith instead tosses the Float Stone at him. 

“For your Alolan Persian. She’s heavy and not a good way to wake up,” Keith mutters. 

“Blue will love it! Now come on, one last place to go to.” Lance cheerfully talks about something at the daycare as they walk and Keith skillfully ignores the knowing gaze of the vendor. 

“That’s why I think that another expansion would help, you know?” Lance finishes his ramble (which Keith heard none of) as they stand in front of the final stop. This building is one that Keith recognizes easily, even without Lance’s introduction in his ears. “Welcome to the Lilycove City Contest Hall!”

“Didn’t you stop doing contests?” Keith asks, looking around the hall in wonder. Photos hung up on the walls of past winners and everyone inside wore formal wear. It makes Keith feel woefully inadequate but Lance forges ahead to the front desk.

“I did. But now I’m here for something else.” Lance winks at the man behind the counter and he seems as flustered at the attention as Keith would be. “I’m here to sign up for judging. Do you need my name?”

“Nope- I mean no- I, uh, we’re good.” the man stumbles through the sentence and Keith nudges Lance in the side. The silent ‘calm down’ reaches Lance as he smiles again, much softer.

“Thank you for your work.” Lance takes his judging pass and scans the code onto his watch. With one last wave Lance turns around to leave, pausing only slightly when he sees a photo of him and his Glaceon on the wall. A satisfied expression crosses his face before they are outside once more. The sun blares down brightly and Lance checks the time. “Perfect timing! It’s 9:30. Shall we head back?”

“Sure,” Keith agrees as he summons Flygon. The two take off back to Lavaridge City, with Keith lost in his thoughts of how nice the day has been and how he may have a new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i chose flygon bc its nicknamed the 'desert spirit' and Keith lived in a desert lmao 
> 
> the reason keith is so bad at talking to people is bc he was on the road battling for so long and i imagine you dont get stellar conversational skills by battling and going to pokemon centers 
> 
> also lance is kind of a big deal in the contest world!!!! he's won a ton of titles (which im not even sure you can win all them but ehjsdcnecb shh its not real) 
> 
> and lmao my boy keith is not good at emotions bc of the whole ALWAYS ALONE ON THE ROAD THING


End file.
